A video tutorial from author Gleider Hernández introducing the topics in chapter 8 of International Law
View the transcript here.
Key points for reflection:
- Jurisdiction in public international law: ‘the limits of the legal competence of a State … to make, apply, and enforce rules of conduct upon persons’
- Jurisdiction as the necessary corollary of State sovereignty and equality between States: resolution of competing claims
- Safeguarded by the fundamental duty of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States in the UN Charter
- Exercising jurisdiction: prescriptive, enforcement, and adjudicative
- Bases for claiming prescriptive jurisdiction:
- Settled principles: territory and nationality
- Contested principles: passive personality, the protective principle, and ‘universal jurisdiction’ based on the severity of the act rather than any jurisdictional nexus